Red Banksia Flower

One banksia flower from over 170 different varieties and colours, i never tire of these pretty flowers from the Banksia tree.

below is a snip of information about its origins ...

Banksias first became known in Europe in late April 1770 when Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander landed from the Endeavour on the east coast of Australia, then known as New Holland.  Earlier visitors to the west coast, such as the Dutchman Wilhelm Vlaming at the Swan River in 1697, would have seen Banksias during brief explorations inland. 

Although the species is named after Joseph Banks, he published none of the botanical results of the Endeavour voyage of 1768-1771. A planned work was never quite finished. Some of the plants were named by other botanists, among them 4 species of  Banksias. These were first published in Germany in October 1782 by the Swedish botanist Carl Linneaus the younger, son of the founder of modern botanical nomenclature. Linneaus apparently did not see the specimens of the other species  found by Banks, which was named B. robur in 1800 by the Spanish Botanist Cavanilles.

It was the visit of Robert Brown in December 1801-January 1802, however, that gave the first real insight into the floral riches of south-west New Holland.  Brown, voyaging with Matthew Flinders in the Investigator, discovered 8 new Banksias at King George Sound (W.A.) and three at Lucky Bay. In all he found about 500 different species of plants at these two landfalls. Later he found two more new Banksias at Port Jackson (Sydney). As it turned out, early exploration accounted for most of the Banksias that grow in eastern Australia. Only five more species have been discovered there since 1805. In the south-west, however, discoveries continued and there are now known to be 58 species in this region.
(wikipedia)